Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Rich Man's Spiritual
2. Long River
3. Way I Feel [Version 1]
4. For Lovin' Me
5. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
6. Changes
7. Early Morning Rain
8. Steel Rail Blues
9. Sixteen Miles (To Seven Lakes)
10. I'm Not Sayin'
11. Pride of Man
12. Ribbon of Darkness
13. Oh Linda
14. Peaceful Waters
15. Walls
16. If You Got It
17. Softly
18. Crossroads
19. Minor Ballad
20. Go-Go Round
21. Rosanna
22. Home from the Forest
23. I'll Be Alright
24. Song for a Winter's Night
25. Canadian Railroad Trilogy
26. Way I Feel [Version 2]

Disc 2:

1. Wherefor and Why
2. Last Time I Saw Her
3. Black Day in July
4. May I
5. Magnificent Outpouring
6. Does Your Mother Know
7. Mountains and Maryann
8. Pussywillows, Cat-Tails
9. I Want to Hear It from You
10. Something Very Special
11. Boss Man
12. Did She Mention My Name
13. Long Way Back Home
14. Unsettled Ways
15. Long Thin Dawn
16. Bitter Green
17. Circle Is Small
18. Marie Christine
19. Cold Hands from New York
20. Affair on 8th Avenue
21. Don't Beat Me Down
22. Gypsy
23. If I Could

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2844 in Music
• Released on: 1993-10-05
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.com essential recording
This two-disc, 49-song collection combines Lightfoot's first four albums into one specially priced package and offers a comprehensive look at the Canadian singer-songwriter before he achieved pop stardom. These late-1960s recordings are more pared down than his better-known 1970s work, showing Lightfoot to be a thoughtful songwriter who was equally comfortable with personal love songs and more political fare. A much stronger folkie sensibility is on display here, which may be a revelation to those only familiar to his glossier folk-pop work, but a boon to his longtime followers. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

A Bargain Classic
Even if you purchased Gordon Lightfoot's sprawling 4-disc Songbook box set like I did (which includes 17 of these songs), you will want to add this to your collection too. This set collects Lightfoot's four United Artists albums in their entirety beginning with his 1966 debut.

You get classic Lightfoot songs like "For Lovin' Me," "Early Mornin' Rain," "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" and "Did She Mention My Name." Also, the box set includes a live medley of "I'm Not Sayin'/Ribbon of Darkness" from the live album Sunday Concert. On this release you get the original studio versions.

Quite simply, Lightfoot is one of the best singer-songwriters of the last forty years and this belongs in any serious music library. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Shockingly Good
Before buying the UA Collection, I had owned and appreciated "Sundown" and "Summertime Dream" for years. I was also familiar with "Gord's Gold," but had given up on pursuing Gordon Lightfoot any further when a couple of his later albums turned out to be duds.

But this collection has been something of a revelation for me. The first disc, in particular, is shockingly good. The songs that were later re-recorded for "Gord's Gold" sound even better here, without the orchestral arrangements.

Lightfoot is a populist at heart. He has always had a good idea of which songs his fans like best, and has been willing to play them live and to include the right songs on compilations like "Gord's Gold." But no compilation can do justice to the wealth of excellent material on his first four albums, which are all included here in their entirety.

After the acoustic guitar bliss of the first disc, it is almost jarring to hear the fuller arrangements on the "Did She Mention My Name" album, which begins disc two. However, this album does come into its own after a few listens. "Black Day in July," which is about the Detroit riots of 1967, suffers a bit from its negative use of the word "black" in the title, which now sounds outdated in the context of a song about race riots. But allowing for that, the song still has an urgency and power that make it one of Lightfoot's more memorable songs. And the use of orchestration on this album seems to have inspired Lightfoot--always one of the most melodic folk singers--to take his melodies to new places. "Does Your Mother Know," in particular, sounds almost as if it would have fit in on "Sundown."

The fourth album included in the UA Collection, "Back Here on Earth," is a return to the simpler arrangements of the first two. According to the liner notes, the songs on this album were written and recorded quickly, and perhaps for that reason they are somewhat lacking in variety, but they are still solid. "Long Thin Dawn," "The Circle Is Small," and "The Gypsy" are favorites of mine.

Because these four albums fill up two discs so neatly, there are no "bonus" tracks, which is great. I, for one, have been bonus tracked to death, and I'm glad not to have any here.

The booklet is very good. It includes some photos, an essay that summarizes this part of Lightfoot's career, and summaries of all four albums, including the instrumental credits and small pictures of the album covers.

What is there not to like about this collection? I suppose Gord can be a little corny at times, with his descriptions of the great Canadian wilderness and the occasional "cute" song like "Go-Go Round" or "May I." But this goes with the territory, and songs that sound corny at first sometimes turn out to be favorites.

If you are a Lightfoot fan, you owe it to yourself to buy this first-rate collection, and if you're just getting interested in Lightfoot, this would be an excellent place to start.

This is it: Gordon at his best
I own all of Gordon Lightfoot's albums except the two "Gord's Gold" collections. As far as I am concerned, he is one of the best songwriters ever, but he did his best work early in his career. This two-CD set compiles his first four United Artists albums. I picked this up at a record store a few years ago, for twice the price for which it's offered here. What a steal to have all this music for only $12.00. The songs in this collection have been repackaged at least a dozen times over the years; some of those compilations are available here at amazon.com. But they are not complete; they contain only a few songs from the first four albums. Here, you get them all. And if you listen to all of them in one sitting (2 1/2 hours!), you will hear one of the most stunning collections of contemporary songs you'll find in one place. Where to begin to describe the effect of listening to this music? The acoustic material that opens disc one includes performances of stark beauty: his covers of Phil Ochs' "Changes" and Ewan MacColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" come quickly to mind. Then there are early classics like "Canadian Railroad Trilogy," "Softly,", and "Song for a Winter's Night." (The first time I heard that one was on the radio on Christmas Eve!) Disc two begins with the "Did She Mention My Name?" album. Lightfoot performs with full orchestration on these songs, and the results will send chills down your spine. If you have never heard "The Last Time I Saw Her," one of the greatest songs he has ever written, and can relate at all to its story of love lost, by the end of its five minutes you will be reduced to a helpless mass of tears. Lightfoot's early career comes full circle on the second half of disc two, when he returns to acoustic music for the album "Back Here on Earth." If you don't know Gordon Lightfoot, this is as good a place to start learning about his music as any. If you do, and somehow don't own this yet, for heaven's sake buy it before they wise up and raise the price. I've seen Gordon in concert several times and nothing pleases me more than when he performs one of these early songs. Each is a small gem; the effect of hearing all of them in succession is staggering. Gordon Lightfoot: great songwriter and international treasure. Five stars.